FRANCIS
MARION MEMORIAL SWAMP FOX ASSAULT XXXII

July 21st, 2012Match Results – Prepared by Mike
McGreer

Wow, where to start. 36 registered shooters for the full swamp match, a record in my 19 years, if not all time. An 11 year old competitor and a 66 year old competitor (Fred Fuscoe, I think the oldest ever “swamp” competitor), from 4’ 11” to 6’ 7”. The first girl in the swamp in a loooong time. Civilian, LEO, military, blue collar, white collar and no collar. Every single one, wearing a big, silly grin.

Tee shirt logo

This year’s course included multiple challenges to the body, soul and weapon reliability, including the Tunnel of Moist and Muddy Love, Hell’s Hog Wallow, and “poison” jugs of water that shooters had to hang around their necks and shoulders while shooting. John “Mover Meister” Moson came up with his usual, mind-numbing carnival of props, obstacles and tricky moving shots.

At the top of the Swamp Fox Shotgun division, were Jason Henthorne and Nathan Goebel. Jason Henthorne shot a flawless and incredibly fast swamp course (30 seconds faster than the next fastest), and very respectable scores in the other stages, to win it all. Goebel was on his way to walking away from everyone else in this match, with first place finishes in the Woods and Dry Land stages, until he came to Hell’s Hog Wallow in the swamp. A that point, his gun became “reliability challenged”, requiring drastic and vigorous actions, to keep it shooting. He still finished the stage with a respectable score, putting him in second place. The usual rogue’s gallery filled out the rest of the top of the division, with incredibly less than two points separating places 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Nearly everyone else shot the Stock Riot Gun Division, including a large contingent of competitors from IVG Tactical. Tim Swineford turned in excellent numbers in all three stages, to win top honors in that division. Gino “Frogman” Lavalle returned again, as the youngest competitor, placing 10th out of 19 shooters in that division. At 4’ 11”, 80 lbs, and 11 years old, the Frogman schooled quite a few grown-ups inAdvanced Swamp Studies.

Everyone followed commands well and cheerfully, and worked very hard to clean things up quickly. I can’t express enough, how much this helps your very worn out staff.

Thanks to the usual fools that agree to burn vacation time to set up and run this thing (Jason Henthorne, Roy Mitchell, Nathan Wilson, John Moson, Tony and Gino Lavalle, and newly minted fool, Tim Swineford), as well as Sean McGreer, Dave Clute and Han Sim, who also helped to run the match. And as usual, thanks to the Fine Chefs of Combat Cuisine (Paul Le Massena, Doug Saris and George Durinka), for feeding the SO’s and preparing the incredible post match feast.

This one is in the rear view mirror, but I’m already looking down the road to the next one.